Bruises and Blood
by Wolf of the Demise
Summary: On a simple intel mission, the five paladins of Voltron face a dark discovery. Or... Lance gets slightly more wounded than he first anticipated. Rated T for violence. No ships; all platonic. One-shot.
1. Chapter 1

They were coming quickly.

Quickly, quickly, and they wouldn't stop.

There had been a lead on Pidge's family. There had been records- very recent ones at that- of the prisoners.

Zarkon had been quiet for a long time now.

They rushed the ship, taken down the drones.

They were supposed to grab it and go.

But that hadn't happened.

Galra soldiers and drones alike flooded the area. And now… now the five paladins were trapped.

Lance looked to his left. Pidge's eyes blazed a fire. Her bayard was already out and ready. Hunk, too. So he looked to his right. Keith's eyes were narrowed, his sword being formed. And Shiro, with his Galra arm glowing a sinister purple. Looking at his four friends, he couldn't help but be reminded of that old saying on Earth...

How'd it go?

Something about a cornered animal. Or… was it a caged animal?

Lance mentally shook his head. _Focus… you need to focus…_

The point was, him and his friends- no, his _family-_ wouldn't go down without a fight. They wouldn't give up.

"Pidge." Shiro's voice echoed through all of their intercoms, "You got the records?"

"Yeah. Backed up and ready to take on the castle."

"So we just… blast our way through the Galra, make a running leap to our lions, and high-tail to the castle so we can wormhole our way away!" Lance chirped, ever upbeat.

"Yes… that's about right." Shiro spoke the same time Keith grimaced. Lance made it sound too easy.

"So why aren't we already making our way to the- oh…" Hunk was cut off by the sound of footstep. Too many footsteps. And they were heading their way.

Shiro, however, grimly answered his unfinished question,"Because they're already here."

And, like magic, those four words were the start of the battle. Galra guns fired non-stop. The sound was never ending… it wouldn't stop…

But then the five paladins leaped forward, slicing and shooting at any foe close enough.

Blood pounded in Lance's ears. He couldn't hear much over that, combined with the never-ending gunshots. He himself shot his own gun. One after another, he waste not a single shot.

A few lucky shots managed to hit Lance's armour, but it did not pierce skin. Sure, Lance didn't doubt that he would have a few bruises the coming day, but it could be much worse.

It did take quite a while, but eventually, they were able to fight a path through their attackers. They all stayed close, all looking out for each other.

After they escaped from the main cluster of Galra, the five were mostly left to sprint to their Lions. It was then that Lance was starting to feel the bruises as he ran, over-exerting himself. The original adrenaline from the fight started to wear off, and he could sense his movements becoming more sluggish.

 _Get a hold of yourself,_ Lance snapped at himself, vigorously shaking his head. The lions were then there, though.

Blue's particle barrier went down, and her mouth opened, as did Green, Yellow, Red, and Black. And Lance and his fellow paladins all did the same thing- getting in the pilot chair and, quite literally, high-tailed out and away.

The coms were turned on, so the sounds of all five paladins panting for breath filled the air. As they sped away, Shiro was heard once again,"You guys all good?"

A chorus of "yes"es were heard, albeit some a little more out of breath that others.

Lance was one of these. Hunk noticed this. And he also noticed something a bit… off…

He decided to voice his worries. "Lance? You alright?"

No answer.

The others fell silent as well.

"Lance." Hunk tried again, "You didn't get hit did you? I'm pulling up a video chat."

"... N-no. I-I'm fine. Sorry, bud, didn't mean to…" Lance trailed off for a few seconds before quickly jumping back in again, "to scare you."

"You sure?" It took Lance a moment to register Shiro's voice. So that meant that Shiro was the one talking now, right?

" **Lance!** "

… Right.

"Yeah! I'm fine, guys! Stop acting so concerned, the battle just took a toll on me. I think."

"Well, if you don't want us to worry then stop acting so weird!" That voice was really mean. Or mad. Either one. Did being mean and being mad mean the same thing? Lance didn't think so. He was fairly certain that there was a small difference, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

" _Lance!_ " And there was that mad/mean voice again! He didn't like it.

" _CRAP!"_ That was another voice. It sounded mad/mean, too, but different this tim-

 _ **BANG!**_

Lance was suddenly forced to slam forward as Blue was pushed from behind. Upon impact with the… the button table, pressure was put on a particular bruise. The dull throb was suddenly replaced with a sharp burning sensation and so he let out a pain-filled cry.

"Pidge, Lance, what happened?!" That was familiar. Who…-?

"Sorry, Shiro! Lance and Blue suddenly stopped and I was right behind them so I didn't have time to stop and I ran right into them and Lance are you okay? You don't sound okay so-" So the small, rambling voice belonged to Pidge. That… that made sense. Why wouldn't that have made sense before?

"Pidge," Shiro gently cut off Pidge, "Calm down. No harm done, right?"

Lance had pressed his hand to his bruise, as if to somehow shield it.

"Lance."

They were so needy, all of them. They can't just… just leave Lance alone. No, they just keep calling his nam-

"Lance!"

And there they _go_ again! Not five seconds before they go and shout his name to the rooftops, and… and- and _WOW_ that bruise was _nasty_.

Lance could hear Shiro mutter something under his breath, but couldn't catch exactly what he said. Louder, though, Shiro spoke, but his murmuring was still hard to hear, "... Blue… seems unresponsive… Get to the castle… Check out Lance…"

Silence. Lance squeezed his eyes shut and sucked in a quick breath, curling in on himself to protect his burning bruise. Bruises didn't hurt this much, right? They weren't supposed to hurt this much, right?

… Right?

And so suddenly Lance could feel Blue moving again. And he felt too sluggish. And he was tired. And after that important mission, he was entitled to a nice, long, comfortable nap, right?

He supposed so.

Lance allowed himself to go limp. And he was drifting off, when Blue was jostled again. The movement hurt his bruise and he let out an almost-silent cry.

Blue was unmoving after that, though. But only a few seconds passed before more sound could be heard. Footsteps? Was that footsteps? But how had they- oh. Blue probably opened the latch. Or was it them who opened Blue up? He didn't know.

Lance could faintly hear Pidge suck in a breath, followed by a, "That's… a lot of blood."

He knew he should've felt alarmed at this blurry statement. _Blood?!_ Was there blood? Was someone bleeding?

They… They weren't talking about him, were they?He hadn't gotten hit, so there was no reason for them to-

The cloudy haze surrounding Lance lessened its hold for a moment, allowing him to give a soft start.

His bruise…

But… But _no._ The armor prevented him from getting hit.

But… _did_ they…?!

Had Lance really been shot? Forcing his eyes to once again open, they immediately widened as he stared at his side. There was, indeed, much blood.

He needed to look away, Lance knew. But he couldn't. And as his breath quickened, he felt a dullness being thrown over his thinking once again.

 _No! You can't… you can't zone out. That'd be bad… bad… really bad, because…_

" _Lance!"_

The voice did nothing to rouse him.

The voice didn't… but the slap did.

With wide eyes, Lance look limply up at a blurred Keith, purple eyes narrowed. He was saying something, but the ringing in Lance's ears were louder and he found himself unable to make anything out.

The Blue Paladin was slightly in control of his thoughts. He now knew that he had been shot; it felt surreal, but Lance knew the truth. His chest also hurt. Breathing was hard… That might be because of his quick, shallow breaths that Lance may or may not have been sure of it was normal or not.

But then suddenly, firm arms were slipped under him, picking him up to carry bridal style. Black and white, Lance made out of the darkening, blurring scene. Black and white hair, black and white armor. The abrupt move, however, sent black spots dancing through his vision and they seemed reluctant to leave. So Lance decided to close his eyes once again.

The yells and urgent screams did nothing to wake him. And as it were, those blue eyes, usually so, _so_ bright, did not open again for a very long time.

His friends were beginning to think that the pod wouldn't ever release its hold over the Blue Paladin.

But finally, it did.

And Lance was believed to be okay.


	2. Chapter 2

They were coming quickly.

Quickly, quickly, and they wouldn't stop.

It had been an important mission. There was intel on her family that had left Pidge hopeful.

Nothing bad had supposed to happen; Zarkon had been out of commission for a long while now.

So the five paladins rushed the ship and taken out the drones.

The oh-so important files had _just_ been fully downloaded when all hell had broke loose.

Flesh-and-blood soldiers, along with the metal drones, had flooded the area, effectively trapping them all.

But, Pidge swore to both herself and her missing brother and father, she wouldn't let _anything_ stop her from getting out. This was the largest lead they'd found since first joining the war. Like _hell_ she'd get this far, this close, to only quit now.

"Pidge," Shiro's voice cut through her thoughts. She drew out her bayard and formed her grappling hook as their leader continued, "You got the records?"

Pidge spared a glance in his direction. Of _course_ she had the files. But she managed to swallow any sarcastic reply when footsteps- oh gosh, too many footsteps- sounded in the distance.

"Yeah. Backed up and ready to take to the castle."

Lance spoke up then, but Pidge allowed herself to tune it out. Battle was approaching quickly; she couldn't let herself get distracted.

Gripping her grappling hook, she, along with the four other paladins rushed forward into the fight.

At one point, she found herself back-to-back with Keith, the red paladin savagely fighting with any enemy in his sight. She, for her part, did well to watch his back. Distantly, she heard a never-ending stream of shots sound. She wasn't even able to distinguish the drones' from Lance's shots.

The sharpshooter, Pidge noticed, had distanced himself from the mass crowd. And, while that worked in his favor, it also made him stand out more. Already, she could see multiple places where laser shots had hit his armor. She pressed her lips together, becoming distracted for a small moment, when-

 _"Pidge!"_ Keith shouted, rushing forward to swipe at a Galran soldier who had closed in to strike the girl. She gave a start, then rushed forward to help Keith dispatch their foe.

Each paladin carved a way through the enemies. And watching each other's backs, it didn't take them much longer to reach the final stretch to their lions.

They jumped into their relative cockpits and wasted no time in distancing themselves from the Galra ship.

In no way had the Voltron pilots taken down the spacecraft, but they had gotten what they had come for. And although the prior fight had taken them by surprise, they had all gotten out relatively unscathed.

Through each paladin's pants, Shiro's voice sounded, "You guys all good?"

"I'm good."

"Yup."

A pant, then Pidge's own, "Yeah."

"... Y- Yes."

A few more breaths passed, Pidge allowing herself to slowly relax, when Hunk spoke up again, "Lance? You alright?"

It wasn't until total silence fell that Pidge felt herself begin to worry.

"Lance, you didn't get hit did you? I'm pulling up a video chat."

"... N-no, I-I'm fine. Didn't mean to..."

Just a _tick_ of silence too long before, "-to scare you."

Believable.

It seemed that Shiro took Lance's statement as seriously as she did, for he proceeded to say, "You sure?"

Silence reared its ugly head until-

" ** _Lance!_** "

Keith's sudden shout caused Pidge to jump slightly in her seat. Nervously biting her lip, she looked towards the blue lion, flying out in space right ahead of Green.

"Yeah!" Lance's voice chirped up again, but this time Pidge refused to buy it as easily. "I'm fine, guys! Stop acting so concerned; the battle just took a toll on me."

Pidge hoped s-

"I think."

Well, crap. That wasn't reassuring in the slightest.

"Well if you don't want us to worry then stop acting so weird!" Keith spoke up now harshly. But Pidge knew that he was probably just trying to get a rise- get anything, really- out of Lance.

Nothing.

" _Lance!_ " Keith shouted over the comms, sounding more angry than anything. It didn't fool anyone. They knew that that the red paladin was just as worried as they all were.

Suddenly, the blue lion stopped and Pidge could only sound out a " _CRAP!"_ before Green crashed into Blue. Pidge was thrown forward by the sudden force and winced when her head hit the control panel.

Whatever pain she felt was suddenly forgotten when Lance's sudden cry of pain sounded just as the two lions had collided.

No, something was _definitely_ wrong, Pidge concluded as she backed up slightly from the blue lion then stilled her own flight.

"Pidge, Lance, what happened?!"

Pidge felt panic rise, "Sorry, Shiro! Lance and Blue suddenly stopped and I was right behind them so I didn't have time to stop and I ran right into them and Lance are you okay?" She was rambling; she needed to stop, "You don't sound okay so-"

"Pidge," Shiro gently cut her off, and she fell silent.

"Lance," Hunk's voice sounded again, clearly worried.

Shiro spoke urgently now, "Lance!"

When no one answered- oh _gosh,_ Pidge was worried- Shiro pulled up a comm connection to the castle.

"Allura, Coran, Lance and Blue seem unresponsive. When we get to the castle, will you have a pod ready? We need to check out Lance. Hunk, can you carry the blue lion back?"

Coran's distant voice was heard, saying that, yes, there'd be a pod ready. Then questions were asked.

No, they didn't know the extent of the damage; nor the wound nor the location of said wound. No, no one else was fatally injured. Yes, only one pod. Yes, they were hurrying.

Coran withdrew and Allura appeared once again. Shiro gave her a quick report on the mission itself- oh, the conversations were so much better than the heavy silence.

Without delay, the lions docked in their hangars and each paladin, sans Lance, rushed to the blue lion, which had landed in Yellow's station. When Pidge arrived- Green was the closest to Yellow- she saw Hunk standing outside Blue's open maw, looking sick.

Pidge's face went ashen and she broke out into a run, entering through the lion's mouth to see...

Pidge stilled, going even whiter as she sucked in a shaky breath, "That's... a lot of blood."

Lance sat, completely limp, against his chair. His head hung back, eyes closed. While his left hand was draped down the side of the seat, the right was laying across his stomach and over his side, covering up a large hole in his armor.

There was... a lot of blood.

Blood decorated Lance's armor, splattered against the dashboard and had pooled at the ground underneath Lance.

Lance, who was completely motionless.

 _Oh god..._

But... but no.

A silent _thank you_ to whoever could hear as Lance's eyes opened slightly, then widen somewhat more at the sight of the blood.

But no... Lance's breath quickened and Pidge could _see_ it. She could _see_ the shock kicking in, _see_ the eyes unfocus and Pidge _hated_ it.

" _Lance!_ " Keith growled angrily, and with a start, Pidge turned to see everyone except Hunk in the cockpit behind her.

Coran's voice sounded distantly, but Pidge hardly heard, "Don't let him fall asleep."

Keith, Shiro, and Coran stepped towards Lance without wasting any time. Allura stood back, hand to her mouth and eyes impossibly wide with horror.

Keith, though, slapped Lance. And although Pidge winced, she saw a bit of clarity enter through Lance's eyes.

But only for a second.

Shiro then bent down and carefully, oh-so carefully, lifted Lance up.

Then Shiro, as fast as he was willing to risk without causing the blue paladin pain, practically rushed to the infirmary.

Coran only took the outside armor off, but kept the black under-suit on before putting Lance in the pod. Coran didn't want any more time to pass before putting the boy in a pod. It was too risky, he had said.

And 'too risky' was right. Later that day, after it had been confirmed that, yes, Lance was healing and would be alright, Coran had informed the paladins and princess that the shot which had wounded Lance had, in fact, been fatal.

He informed them that, had they waited a bit longer, or not realized the wound soon enough, Lance wouldn't have made it.

After that somber realization, a heavy mood had settled over the castle for four days as Lance healed.

Pidge locked herself away, feverishly working with the data from the mission. A few times, she almost, _almost,_ asked herself if it had been worth it. She never let herself finish the thought.

Too close. It had been much, much too close.

So four days later, four paladins and two Alteans crowded around the pod and, when it released its hold on Lance, Shiro was the one to catch him.

Silence- how strange it was, coming from Lance- reigned, until Pidge hesitantly spoke up, "You've been in there _twice_ now, Sharpshooter. What gives?"

Only a breath of a moment passed before...

" _Sharpshooter_ , huh?" No one mentioned the waver in Lance's voice. It was gone immediately after, "So you finally admit that I'm better than you, right, Pigeon?"

 _"As if."_

And suddenly, the spell was broken. First, it was Hunk. Then Keith, Allura, and Coran. Not too long before all seven of them were bantering back and forth in a friendly matter. Then Lance was whisked away- quite literally, compliments to Hunk- to the kitchen for some food.

Afterwards, everyone was able to just... hang out in the lounge. They talked about nothings, then talked about somethings- eventually able to fill Lance on his condition four days prior and the progress made in that time.

Slowly, slowly, late in to what was considered night- it was impossible to tell in space- they retired to their rooms, one-by-one.

Only Shiro and Lance were left now and hesitantly, Shiro took this time to speak, "Hey, Lance?"

Lance looked Shiro's way, blinking sleep from his eyes, "Hmm?"

"Are you... okay?"

The blue paladin shot Shiro one of his 'winning' smiles, "Tired, but after some beauty rest, I'll feel fine."

Shiro hesitated, "...That's not what I meant."

"Yeah... I know." Lance's smile dropped and turned into something more... exhausted, is how Shiro would describe it. Lance rubbed the back on his neck and looked off at the far wall. Once again, Shiro was reminded that the other paladins were just kids. _Children._

But before Shiro could continue to think, Lance continued, "It's just, uh, weird, I guess. Knowing you've been shot. Knowing that you could've died." Lance hesitated, but then continued in a smaller voice, "Knowing... knowing that under any other circumstances, I _would_ have died."

Shiro's throat constricted. _Children._ Fighting a war on the front lines. Literally staring Death straight in the face.

"But it's okay, really," Lance continued, pulling Shiro out of his thoughts. Then, Lance looked his way and shot Shiro a smile- a genuine one.

"It's all okay- no, really, Shiro. I'm alright. Only a bit shaken up, is all."

Shiro believed him.

Then, without warning, the spell was broken and a joking smile was back in place, "But I _am_ tired, Shiro. Night, Space Dad!"

Shiro snapped out of his daze and gave Lance a strange look at the outlandish title. But Shiro only smiled softly and replied with, "Night, Sharpshooter."

 _I'm kind of shocked by how much support I received last chapter. And it was only supposed to be a one-shot, too. But yesterday I was rereading the story along with reviews and, inspiration struck. And, well. voila._

 _I don't think there will be a third chapter to this. But I hoped that you all enjoyed this continuation._

 _Reviews are much appreciated. :3_


End file.
